Sports personalities and promoters can turn to the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) for dispute resolution services regarding domain names that are claimed to infringe registered trademarks. Other remedies available to them include those pursuant to personality rights law in China, or passing off and trademark law in Hong Kong.

The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) was formed as a joint undertaking by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the Korean Internet Address Dispute Resolution Committee. It was subsequently approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide dispute resolution services in regard to Asian generic top level domain names (gTLD’s), under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy(UDRP).The ADNDRC may delete or transfer the domain name under paragraph 4 UDRP if the domain name is confusingly similar to the trademark; the domain name holder had no legitimate interest; and the domain name was registered or used in bad faith.

In Telstra Corporation Limited v. Domain-Broker-Labs, Case No.D2000-1789, the complainants, Australia’s leading information services company, entered into a strategic Pan-Asian Alliance with Pacific Century CyberWorks, a leading Asian communications company. They sued for and obtained transfer of the Asian respondent’s domain name, registered shortly after conclusion of the Alliance, on the grounds that the respondent did not carry on any related business, was not commonly known by any similar name, and did not act in good faith.

The panel in that case held that “given the [claimant’s] reputation and goodwill in the TELSTRA PCCW name and the public announcement which… featured…prominently in South East Asia, it is hard to see how the respondent can claim to have registered the name in good faith.… [given] the lack of any adequate explanation or the denial of bad faith….”

In Advance Magazine Publishers v. Shenzhen Hengtaixin Golf Utilities, CIETAC CND-200300007, respondent registered the domain name golfdigest.com.cn to provide information services concerning golf. The complainant was the owner of the trademark GOLF DIGEST for print publications in China. Article 11 of the Chinese Trademark Law and Article 49 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law provide that trademarks referring to the quality, quantity, or other features of goods may not be registered, and there is no right to prohibit others from using these terms normally. The panel ruled that the complainant could not register the trademark for information services on golf and was limited to print publications and similar goods; consequently, there was no right to prevent the respondent’s normal use of the descriptive term in its domain name.

In Alibaba (China) Network Tech., Ltd. v. Jichuang Power Group Co., CIETAC CND-2003000024, the China Internet Network Information Centre (‘CNNIC’), China’s official domain names regulator and administrators of .cn TLD, refused the application of Beijing Zhengpu Science Development Company for the Chinese name ‘Alibaba’ on the grounds that the domain was reserved for a well-known Hong-Kong based online business-to-business marketplace, Alibaba.com Corporation. A Beijing Intermediate People’s Court ruled that CNNIC did not have the right to reserve Chinese domain names for well-known companies and ordered them to treat all domain applicants equally.

Are there any other sources of protection for domain names infringing identity rights of sports personalities in China?

Article 99(2) of the General Principles of the Civil Law guarantees legal persons the right to exclusive use of their personal names. Article 120 provides, that if a legal person’s “name, portrait, reputation or honor is infringed upon, he shall have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, his reputation rehabilitated, the ill effects eliminated and an apology made; he may also demand compensation for losses.”

How have the above legal protections been applied in practice?

In Shanghai Shenhua Football Club v. Shanghai Teleitong Trade, Gazette of the Supreme Court, vol. 69, no.1 (2001), the defendant used the name of the plaintiff, a Chinese national football champion in an advertisement. The court held that the defendants were using the plaintiff’s identity to pursue commercial interests and required authorization for doing so.In 2004, a Fujian company registered the domain names of China’s gold medalists in the Athens Olympics,, without their authorization. After a public outcry, the company gave up the domain names.

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, China’s General Administration of Sport preregistered most of the names of China’s Olympic athletes, giving away the domain names to the country’s gold medalists as a gift. The rest of the domain names were returned following an appeal by the CNNIC.

Is the law the same in Hong Kong?

The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance protects private individuals from invasions of privacy by the government and public authorities, but not by private persons or organizations. Sports personalities have to rely on the UDRP, reinforced by passing off and trade mark law, in order to obtain protection against infringement for their identities.

Sports personalities and promoters can turn to the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) for dispute resolution services regarding domain names that are claimed to infringe registered trademarks. Other remedies available to them include those pursuant to personality rights law in China, or passing off and trademark law in Hong Kong.

The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) was formed as a joint undertaking by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the Korean Internet Address Dispute Resolution Committee. It was subsequently approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide dispute resolution services in regard to Asian generic top level domain names (gTLD’s), under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

The ADNDRC may delete or transfer the domain name under paragraph 4 UDRP if the domain name is confusingly similar to the trademark; the domain name holder had no legitimate interest; and the domain name was registered or used in bad faith.

In Telstra Corporation Limited v. Domain-Broker-Labs, Case No.D2000-1789, the complainants, Australia’s leading information services company, entered into a strategic Pan-Asian Alliance with Pacific Century CyberWorks, a leading Asian communications company. They sued for and obtained transfer of the Asian respondent’s domain name, registered shortly after conclusion of the Alliance, on the grounds that the respondent did not carry on any related business, was not commonly known by any similar name, and did not act in good faith.

The panel in that case held that “given the [claimant’s] reputation and goodwill in the TELSTRA PCCW name and the public announcement which… featured…prominently in South East Asia, it is hard to see how the respondent can claim to have registered the name in good faith.… [given] the lack of any adequate explanation or the denial of bad faith….”

In Advance Magazine Publishers v. Shenzhen Hengtaixin Golf Utilities, CIETAC CND-200300007, respondent registered the domain name golfdigest.com.cn to provide information services concerning golf. The complainant was the owner of the trademark GOLF DIGEST for print publications in China. Article 11 of the Chinese Trademark Law and Article 49 of the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law provide that trademarks referring to the quality, quantity, or other features of goods may not be registered, and there is no right to prohibit others from using these terms normally. The panel ruled that the complainant could not register the trademark for information services on golf and was limited to print publications and similar goods; consequently, there was no right to prevent the respondent’s normal use of the descriptive term in its domain name.

In Alibaba (China) Network Tech., Ltd. v. Jichuang Power Group Co., CIETAC CND-2003000024, the China Internet Network Information Centre (‘CNNIC’), China’s official domain names regulator and administrators of .cn TLD, refused the application of Beijing Zhengpu Science Development Company for the Chinese name ‘Alibaba’ on the grounds that the domain was reserved for a well-known Hong-Kong based online business-to-business marketplace, Alibaba.com Corporation. A Beijing Intermediate People’s Court ruled that CNNIC did not have the right to reserve Chinese domain names for well-known companies and ordered them to treat all domain applicants equally.

Are there any other sources of protection for domain names infringing identity rights of sports personalities in China?

Article 99(2) of the General Principles of the Civil Law guarantees legal persons the right to exclusive use of their personal names. Article 120 provides, that if a legal person’s “name, portrait, reputation or honor is infringed upon, he shall have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, his reputation rehabilitated, the ill effects eliminated and an apology made; he may also demand compensation for losses.”

How have the above legal protections been applied in practice?

In Shanghai Shenhua Football Club v. Shanghai Teleitong Trade, Gazette of the Supreme Court, vol. 69, no.1 (2001), the defendant used the name of the plaintiff, a Chinese national football champion in an advertisement. The court held that the defendants were using the plaintiff’s identity to pursue commercial interests and required authorization for doing so.

In 2004, a Fujian company registered the domain names of China’s gold medalists in the Athens Olympics, , without their authorization. After a public outcry, the company gave up the domain names.

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, China’s General Administration of Sport preregistered most of the names of China’s Olympic athletes, giving away the domain names to the country’s gold medalists as a gift. The rest of the domain names were returned following an appeal by the CNNIC.

Is the law the same in Hong Kong?

The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance protects private individuals from invasions of privacy by the government and public authorities, but not by private persons or organizations. Sports personalities have to rely on the UDRP, reinforced by passing off and trade mark law, in order to obtain protection against infringement for their identities.